End-Of-The-Week Hair

I've been washing my hair every 6-7 days. Towards the end of the week, my hair isn't really in much of a presentable state. At that time, I depend upon styles that "mask" my hair. The style I lean towards when my hair isn't "fresh" is the messy bun. I just grab my hair any sort of way and put an Ouchless elastic on. I don't twist the elastic - that way, my bun remains big and isn't restricted by the tightness of the elastic.

American Apparel Nail Lacquer: Poppy

I've never been a huge fan of red nail polish. I guess I should rephrase that; I've never been a huge fan of red nail polish on myself. I'm not big on anything that's red, to be honest. For some reason, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and purchase a bottle of red nail polish. I put it on last night.. still trying to get used to it. It does look "rich" and "classy", so maybe I will save it for occasions. To be honest, I'm just not really feeling it for a regular day.

I will say that I truly love these American Apparel Nail Lacquers though. Just have to put on one coat, and I'm good! I went back two weeks ago, and along with Poppy, I bought Summer Peach and Coney Island. 

 

Forgotten Style: The Twistout

I haven't done a twistout in the longest time. I've been relying on flexi rods lately. Prior to that, to achieve "textured" styles, I was doing braidouts mostly. Watching Andrea's new video definitely reminded me to revisit twistouts. The curls she achieved with only two twists are beautiful!

Kim Kardashian's Middle French Braid

Here are some pics of a really cute hairdo Kim Kardashian wore yesterday. It seems simple enough to do, and is really cute! I might try that for work tomorrow. If I do, I'll definitely take some pics. Until then, enjoy :)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer

Lately, I've been trying to make sure my nails look presentable at pretty much all times. Whether I have on clear, french manicure, or hot pink, it doesn't matter, as long as they're done.

Last week, I was in the mood to buy some light pastel colours. I browsed around the pharmacy and Sephora, and didn't see anything I was crazy about. Before leaving the mall, I decided to check out American Apparel. I ended up buying three polishes, not because I needed three, but because they were 3 for $18CAD, whereas one was $7.50.

I bought: L'esprit (pale lavender), California Trooper (light beige), and Office (pastel mint green).

Right now I have on L'esprit. I've never had purple nails before, so it'll take a little bit of getting used to! I've also worn my California Trooper, and I must say, I love these polishes. They went on nice and smoothly, and only one coat is needed to get a nice thick finish. I'm excited to go back and get some more colours. A few that I'd love to try are Rose Bowl, Coney Island, and Malibu Green.

What nail polish brand and colours do you like???

You can check out the colours here.

Breaking All The Rules

I have been neglecting my blog, and not intentionally. The truth is, I've been pretty much breaking all the "hair rules". I felt bad having fallen off the hair care wagon. I have been using heat on my hair on a regular basis, not moisturizing daily, not deep conditioning... I haven't  had the patience to do everything that I used to do. It doesn't appear to have been detrimental to my hair yet. I really hope I'm not speaking too soon! Anyway, it wasn't a regimen I wanted to "promote". It's been working for me so far. It's also been saving me a lot of time.We all have to do what works for us, and for me, my current regimen is working out alright :)

My regimen the past few weeks has been as follows:

• Wash hair every 5-7 days with Live Clean Fresh Water Shampoo
• Condition in the shower with Skala G3 Ceramide Deep Conditioner
• Squeeze excess water from hair
• Detangle with Africa's Best Kids' Organics Olive Oil & Shea butter detangler
• Put One N Only Argan Oil Treatment throughout my hair
• Blowdry on warm, using the "tension method"
• Flat iron in large sections

The flat ironing in large sections was inspired by NinaPruitt in her most recently flat ironing tutorial. It definitely seems way less damaging than going over tiny sections with a hot iron. It is definitely less time-consuming, which is a big plus for me. I also love the body I have when using this method.

Another small change I've made in my regimen is using the One N Only Argan Oil on wet hair before blowdrying. It has really helped my hair to dry way smoother, and my hair hasn't been matting up as it used to (I have one section that mattes up in particular from when I attempted to self-relax).

I've also been greasing my scalp with Hollywood Beauty Sulfur. My scalp tends to get itchy and this grease really alleviates that. 

At night, I've been sleeping with 3-4 flexirods to add some bounce for the next day. I do so nightly, and sleep with my satin bonnet.

I hope to update more often. I still don't have a digital camera (mine broke a few months back), but I do have a phone now that takes decent pictures. Here are some pictures that I took during my wash and dry session today.

Last relaxer June 11, 2010

 

Drying in sections

 

Deep Conditioning on Thursday!

I went to the NY over the weekend.. and you know what that means: a trip to Sally's! I really don't like to go there and not buy anything, because I know I only get to the United States once or twice a year.

I bought the One 'N Only Argan Oil Restorative Mask. I was trying to decide between that and the conditioner, because at $10 a piece, I couldn't afford/didn't deserve to buy both. I'll be trying it Thursday evening, and will let you know how it goes :) It smells exactly like their argan oil (love it).

I wonder how One 'N Only's argan oil products compare to the Moroccan Oil brand. I've never tried Moroccan Oil, but I'll admit their marketing really tempts me. Every time I flip open a magazine, there they are. I've heard that One 'N Only's products are just as good, if not better. Price-wise they definitely are! I wish they were as readily available as Moroccan Oil though.

My Product List

Updated list of the products and tools that I've been using these past few months.


Shampoos

Live Clean Fresh Water Moisturizing Shampoo
Live Clean Argan Oil Restorative Shampoo
Tresemme Deep Cleasing Shampoo (for clarifying)

Conditioners

Aussie Moist
Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut
Skala Ceramides G3 Conditioning Treatment (DC)
Motions CPR Reconstructor (light protein)

Leave-Ins

Live Clean Fresh Water Moisturizing Intensive Leave-In Conditioner
Aphogee ProVitamin Leave-In
Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer


Heat Protectants

Dove Heat Defense Therapy Protect and Shine Mist
CHI Silk Infusion

*always used together

Oils

Kissan Coconut Oil
Olive Oil (on scalp only)
One N' Only Argan Oil Treatment aka Argan Oil from Sally's ;)

Tools

FHI Heat Platform 1"
Gold N Hot Table Top Hooded Dryer
Vidal Sassoon Blowdryer (with concentrator nozzle and diffuser attachments)
Wide and fine toothed rat tail combs
Jilbere Shower Comb
Banana Clips
Flexi rods (small, medium, large)
Grey and black magnetic rollers + alligator clips

Obviously Been on Hiatus

I've been gone for a while. It was definitely not planned. Haven't been updating much because I don't have a camera. Mine broke, then I borrowed my parents' for a while. Only thing I could possibly be use is my laptop's web cam, which is better than nothing. Will definitely look into buying a camera soon though.

Nothing new with my hair. My goal for end of 2010 was to reach waist length. I haven't done a true length check recently, but I'm pretty sure it's at MBL. I trimmed about half an inch of it a few days ago.. Health before length, health before length...

I went to Cuba at the beginning of July. The humidity there really made my hair feel limp and soft.. I hated it. Had I known it'd be that humid, I definitely would have brought my protein conditioner with me. I mostly relied on braidouts that ended up completely puffing up, and bun. To think that I actually had the nerve to show up there with flat ironed hair LOL I even brought my flat iron there.. I decided I would just flat iron my bangs (because I do daily here).. Came prepared with my voltage converter and all. I walked away while I let it warm up, and I came back to see my flat iron's plates had separated. My heart SUNK. I guess my voltage converter was faulty. I pressed the iron closed and held it that way until it cooled, and the plates seem to be sticking in place again, but I hate the feeling of knowing my iron is not in mint condition anymore.

BEFORE

AFTER

I went to a grocery store down there, and of course had to take a peek at the hair products section. The majority of the products they had were by Skala. The name seemed familiar (from seeing it mentioned at LHCF) and it was really cheap, so I decided to buy a couple of jars of their Ceramides 3 Deep Conditioner. I LOVE IT! I really wish I would have bought more. I had no way of knowing I'd love it though. Next time I will definitely stock up, and probably take a risk on more of their products. I guess there really is something to say of ceramides. My hair looks and feels more moisturized than it has been in a long time.

I've been putting my hair up a lot lately, mostly using banana clips. It's been hot, humid and often rainy here, so can't be bothered with trying to keep it looking perfect to wear it down.

Again, sorry for the web cam pics. I hope you guys don't mind.. it's all I have for now.

Jumping on the Sulfate-Free Bandwagon

My scalp has been really dry lately. I mean really dry, and flaky. I tried a few things.. Head & Shoulders (which was probably drying my scalp out even more in retrospect), oiling my scalp, clarifying (thinking I must have had a lot of product build-up), etc.

I decided to give one last thing a try: going sulfate-free. I went to the pharmacy this morning and bought Live Clean's Fresh Water Moisturizing Shampoo. Live Clean is an all-organic Canadian brand, whose product line looks amazing (including Argan Oil, Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner, Apple Cider Vinegar Clarifying Shampoo, etc.). I don't really have any results to report yet since I'm still under the dryer. I can say that it smelled heavenly though, and my hair didn't dry out as it usually does when I'm putting in my rollers.

After a few uses, I'll write a review.